DIY Pop Top Roof - Expedition Truck Build #9

[@watchtherocks12]

Lovely smile! Mounting the heater externally was definitely the best choice.

[@mehdiabiyat3509]

Hi mate, Great job and well thought through. I have a an old Chevy truck (1978 Chevy C60 tipper) that I am thinking of converting it to similar to yours but it is not a high chassis. Will follow your work certainly. Well done. 👍

[@theretired432]

great job, Dan

[@dancampion]

Thanks Ririn

[@catmini1]

Genius! Best I have seen so far!

[@montypareek6284]

bro love your videos....

[@aarondcmedia9585]

Epic build here. Do you remember how much the slide packs were?

[@dancampion]

Hey Aaron, I can't remember off the top of my head, I think roughly around $100 AUD each

[@aarondcmedia9585]

@@dancampion wow that is cheap af. THK are the ducks nuts. I found a website selling them but no prices on there, so thought they must have been expensive hey. Thanks for the response. Loving the videos, keep up the good work.

[@rights8877zz]

Would like to practice on a small way with this Pop Top Roof. Can you do a demonstration on a table with smaller scaled down versions to show us how this works. Sort of like a Science Teacher. Makes it easy to see how the roof can move up and down. Other question, is it water proof. Heavy rains come in, how it the popes up roof protected against heavy down pours of rain.

[@victorbart]

Looks great! So much engineering goes into your build! And you are doing it right! Nice 4 point flex system under the body. And you design it that thing can move and flex. :)

[@dancampion]

Thanks Victor! I haven't done much testing but it should be able to flex as much as it needs to

[@victorbart]

@@dancampion the most important thing is that you have the correct way of thinking for expedition trucks. I saw a super pretty unimog on KZbin. Super nice build and layout. Then they went offroad...... I saw the cab and body completely rigid................ Something is going to crack while doing long days of the pavement.

[@AndyUK-Corrival]

Really coming together. With all the alignment of pop top and slide out room etc are you concerned about the vehicle flexing when travelling over rough terrain and then having issues opening things? Andy UK

[@dancampion]

That's the idea behind the torsion free subframe, I'll have to make a video explaining that in more detail

[@dcraigslist5243]

Do you have any info on how you seal up the sides so dust and wind do not get in? Looks great. Just subscribed.

[@dancampion]

I'll make a video when I get to that. Thank you!

[@dirkb5674]

@@dancampion I would be very interested to see the water/weather proofing as well :-)

[@phoenix2625]

Thanks for asking this great question! & Thanks Dan!

[@gjohn7792]

Genius

[@dancampion]

Thank you!

[@renekok5708]

Can you not use 2 controllers? 3 connected to each, so left side and right side. This way you would only have a difference on 1 axes and also the other axes (with 3) would be straight.

[@stormand]

What is your plan if any actuators fail? Is there a way to manually override so you don't get stuck with the roof in the up position and not able to move the vehicle?

[@dancampion]

If one actuator fails I can remove it from the system and lower the roof without it. I may also carry one actuator for spares. I've stripped one of these down and they're simple to repair if you have the parts

[@gregorymarshall8718]

Can you please send me details how you raised the pop top

[@dancampion]

The roof is guided up and down by THK linear slide packs, and lifted/lowered by 24V electric linear actuators

[@fernandyauhfbm3315]

essas suas paredes do motorhome sao feitas com chapa de aco?

[@gregory9157]

Hello from Belgium 🇧🇪 Really thought through and ingenious camper 👍. Will there be heat transfer through the metal shearing and metal frame?

[@dancampion]

There will be some heat transfer. I'm not concerned about it

[@phoenix2625]

This is awesome! 🚛🚛🚛 I stumbled across linear actuators while researching methods to lift the roof on my shuttle bus as well. No one has installed them into a bus roof... That I can find on the internet anyways! I've been checking in for a while now and this is the closest to the concept to what I was imagining for my bus 🚌 ! So thanks for the update!! Curious what length of actuator you bought? 1000mm? Im trying to figure out if it says something like "55-1000mm" if that means 1000mm is the length once fully extended. Also curious what's the real time for the lift of your roof? I'll probably end up with 4, as my roof is fiberglass so it won't be as heavy. And I won't be on the roof while lifted. Lastly, do you have any reinforcing done inside as a failsafe for when it's fully extended? Like some type of bar lock on the wall? My plans for my bus include a very analogous bed loft to what you've done (tucked flush to the ceiling when the roof is not extended--whole reason I wanted to do the lift in mine!) ..since I've never used actuators before... I'm somewhat terrified I could be up in my bed loft and have the roof fall and crush me. Am I crazy... 😂 Please let me know if you or your engineering friends think a failsafe is necessary. This build is epic. Also love the blue colors for the front. Plz keep posting!

[@dancampion]

Hey mate, you shouldnt need a failsafe. research how actuators work. They generally cant just drop under normal circumstances.

[@RolandOfGileadOnYT]

Dan, exactly how are these actuators 'synchronized'? I mean, you turn em on/off all together, but there's no feedback wires for the position, right?

[@dancampion]

They're not synchronized, the cost of synchronising goes way up with more than 4 actuators. It would be nice but it was out of my budget and not really necessary. Cheers

[@RolandOfGileadOnYT]

@@dancampion Hi Dan, ah, right, I misunderstood your message then ;) What is the reason you used a distributor box instead of simply wiring everything up to a switch?